2012 Donington Supersport | Results

Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) took his first career win in the FIM Supersport World Championship after converting a second place on the grid into a full points score.

Lowes had been through some troubled times in practice after he picked up a nasty stomach infection of some kind, meaning he had been ill from Friday onwards. He then fell in second qualifying on Saturday, suffering severe injury to the small finger of his left hand and losing the chance to go for pole.

Lowes overcame the early push of pole position rider Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) and despite the coming menace of double world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) Lowes held on to win by upping the pace on the final two laps and taking himself to within five points of the championship lead.

Both Cluzel and Lowes gained from their podium finishes, with Lowes on 76 points to Sofuoglu’s 81, while Cluzel is now third overall, on 64. The French rider put his knowledge of Donington to good use and was delighted like his peers not to meet any rainy conditions, which allowed him to find a good race set-up.

Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) had good early pace, but dropped out of contention as his rear lost grip and he finished fourth in the race, moving up to fifth in the championship – albeit 39 points behind the leading rider.

Seventh for Ronan Quarmby (PTR Honda) at Donington was result that pushed him up to seventh place overall. He was satisfied in one way as he had only qualified 11th, and is now only four points from the rider ahead.

A great ride from Valentine Debise (SMS Racing Honda) placed him eighth; with his only score of the year so far giving him eight points on one fell swoop. He had a strong ninth place in qualifying to thank for his good start, riding to sixth after one lap and keeping a good pace throughout.

Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) says: “Obviously I was out to get my first win and some people may say it was a long time coming. I have made some mistakes, but today I used my head a little bit more and I am really happy for the result. The team is doing well because Jules won last weekend and I won this weekend.

“It so good having Jules in the team because we got on really well and we push each other on. Hopefully we can come on well for the second part of the season. The bike has been fantastic all year so I am really enjoying everything at the minute. It’s great to take my first World Supersport victory in front of my home crowd and I’m really grateful for the support. There’s a bit of a break now which is good as I can sort out my injured finger. I’ll be training hard to come to Misano as fit as ever and ready to rock and roll.”